We swear this isn't an ironic listening. We love Beyoncé and 4. OK, we might unironically skip straight to track 5, 'Party', produced by Kanye West and with rap by Andre3000, because we ain't no stay-home-mums that need all those ballads about being broken hearted and finding the right person. But, after that, the album turns into a beautiful compilation of classic r'n'b, soul and a bit of sweat-inducing booty tracks - not too many though - that sound surprisingly courageous considering the actual state of pop music. And for that, we bow down and hail Queen B. P.S. Get the deluxe version, for those extra couple of amazing tracks.

The name of this label has been interpreted in many ways; from 'bass-seekey' to 'base-ike', but the correct way describes exactly what this label is about: BASIC. Bassike delivers easily breezily cut staples with an interesting little twist that keeps them from being your run of the mill. For those that live in climates like that of Australia (where Bassike hails from) or Brazil, you'll know how easy it is to make fashion faux pas when the weather gets hot and the prospect of wearing anything but a bathing suit becomes slightly unappealing; Bassike is all and everything you need.

Before watching HBO's Game of Thrones, I assumed the series would tend a bit more towards the blood-dripping Danish movie Valhalla Rising rather than fairy-tale stories a lá 'Lord of the Rings'; and for that I didn't really like the series at the beginning. But slowly, I found myself submitting to tales of bad kings, midget juggernauts, savage warriors and... dragons. And that happened probably because there aren't exactly good guys and bad guys here, like there are in Tolkien stories - and that is, of course, a simplification of his work. Another reason I relented to this series is because of the intriguing political backstage element that leads to the ever-happening dance of thrones. Oh, and did I mention the gratuitous nekkid-ness?

Of the slew of new spots having opened up in Sydney in the last six months, The Norfolk on Cleveland St in Surry Hills has been one fated with success. Owned by some of the same kids that have brought The Flinders back to life (and currently, it's incredibly quick onset of 'The Norms'), you'll undoubtedly find The Norfolk rammed with all kinds, vying for a bite, a beer and a spot in the garden out back. The aim of the game is to cultivate Aussie pub culture at it's best; and it's doing a pretty decent job so far - if only you could get a table!

Super Sad True Love Story is the third book from the writer of the best selling Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart. Incidentally, I read him name dropped in Flavorpill's Ultimate Hipster Reading list and in the same sentence as James Franco (they're buds, apaprently) just before I finished his latest offering. Don't let any of that put you off, or take away any of the sad scary brilliance of Super Sad True Love Story; written from the perspective of one 39 year old Lenny Abramov, son of Russian immigrants and in love with the impossibly cute and cruel Eunice Park. A satire that cuts to the bone, Super Sad True Love Story is exactly it's title. And it's good.

Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino is hanging out at home in Los Angeles doing some final writing before going into the studio to begin recording her second LP. It's only been about a year since her debut album Crazy For You was released, and two years since her lo-fi, sun drenched and fuzzed out tracks started permeating into ears. By the blog watch, two years seems like a lifetime; but in terms of palpable success, Cosentino has been using those last two years to steadily climb not only the charts and away from the cat obsessed stoner public image that she herself had built during that time, but also into more rarefied circles of fame and fortune.

It was just the other day that she was rubbing shoulders with Tina Fey and being asked by Tracy Morgan to sing 'Respect' with him. She had a video directed by Drew Barrymore featuring a host of young stars including Chloe Moretz and Donald Glover, and in the witheringly backhanded compliment, has been a notorious target for HipsterRunoff's personal brand of caustic and ironic wit.

On second look, maybe she is in fact, deeper than just cats and weed. In fact, I might be inclined to think that, on one hand, she takes herself very seriously. And on the other, not seriously at all. Perhaps it's more that she takes her position in pop culture seriously, but herself not so much - though perhaps a little more with each HRO post. Cosentino seems cautious in her responses, and at times even defensive. She's frank though, and even speaks at length to explain her intentions and actions.

Tuesday March 6 2012:

We first interviewed Bethany back in September 2010. I did this interview with Cosentino about a year later in October 2011. With the recent buzz surrounding her new range for Urban Outfitters dropping into stores in May 2012, it seemed an appropriate time to let y'all read the unedited conversation. This cat-and-weed-meme-indie girl with the songs about the everyday tragedy of heartbreak and love set to warm and fuzzy guitar has proven far more than a blip on the radar and doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. To be honest, I prefer Best Coast less when she's talking and more when she's singing. Less meme and more music, I say - and it seems, so does she.

It was the crack of dawn this side of the globe. I swear, I was
struggling so hard to emerge from still being in the depths of dreamland
that I was slurring my words. By the time Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon
greeted me on the line from London, we were on opposite ends on the
spectrum of sleepiness as she put it. Thankfully, playback revealed her
responses to be as candid and thoughtful as I'd hoped, in spite of my
fogginess.

Mid 2011 sees Little Dragon finally enjoying the kind of boom in
popularity that they deserved in the wake of a plethora of high profile
collaborations (with the likes of Gorillaz, Maximum Balloon, Raphael Saadiq, DJ Shadow and the superb SBTRKT) as well as the release of their third album, Ritual Union.
There aren't that many bands gigging right now that sound like Little
Dragon do; with ability like they possess, nor a work ethic like they
quietly go about with.

Their journey to this point has
been the old fashioned way: with
lots of gigs and lots of hard work, and their recent success hasn't been
a
surprise or out of the blue - and they don't pretend it is either, like
some other 'break-out bands' often make it out to be. Perhaps it's
because they're not teenagers. Perhaps it's because they've been around
as a band for about fifteen years. Perhaps it's because they're Swedish.
Perhaps it's because they don't really care about too much else except
making music that makes them feel good.

Check the cool new video for 'Brush The Heat' illustrated by Yukimi's dad, Yusuke below, and then catch the full interview after the jump...

Aside from what they describe as the curse of coming to the fore as one of the progenitors of the controversially neon nu-rave craze that swept the world around five years ago, New Young Pony Club haven't
had the easiest road. Whichever way you'd call it, NYPC's own brand of
dance-punk happened to rise during a time when dayglo was enjoying a
renaissance; and happily, they are also one of those few bands that have
managed to maintain a devoted following after the lights came up and
everyone realised they had a highlighter hangover.

The strength of their music, aesthetic and modus operandus is what
has kept NYPC riding through the changing pastures of the music
industry; and this is undoubtedly in no small part due to the strength
of their women (and man). Hardly needing introduction, NYPC is made up
of Tahita Bulmer (vocals), Andy Spence (guitar), Lou Hayter (keys), Sarah Jones (drums) and Remy Mallet
(bass). As a whole, NYPC is one of those rare and wonderful creatures
that don't necessarily need to draw attention to (or exploit) their
strengths - because they're obvious enough, as opposed to what a lot of
female driven entities in pop find it necessary to do. Which is exactly the kind of woman power the world needs - less lip service and just plain old being.

Since 'Ice Cream' hit the airwaves, the band were reportedly begging to work with such pioneering types as Diplo and DFA; but Modular Records
simply didn't have the same ideas as they did and geared them towards
more mainstream sensibilities. That was a long time ago though, and NYPC
have found freedom in their own record label and have managed to sort
themselves out to crystalise their sound and vision in The Optimist.

Already with a third album in the works, the band are currently playing
some dates in Brazil as well as a few dates in the UK. We managed to get
Tahita and Andy to answer some questions (that have been burning in my
drafts folder for a couple of years in fact!) in between being
effortlessly fierce, working on their new album and gigging in São Paulo. Check Tahita, Andy
and I chatting Achilles heels and bad ass bitches...

Joseph Mount is touring. Somewhat more specifically,
he's on the side of the road somewhere between Cardiff and Wakefield
since he's gotten the driver to pull over. Mount is after all, the
brains behind future-classic English quartet, Metronomy. And whilst the band is on tour, they're also in the throes of releasing their third album, The English Riviera.

With
two previous LPs, some quiet EPs and a slew of excellent remixes for
all kinds of names from Architecture in Helsinki to KD Lang, Metronomy
isn't that band who shot to fame with one single, or even within an
album release - though with this album, things seem to be gathering more
and more steam. The last five years have also included the band being
rebuilt as a four piece alongside a steady and organic progression of
their musical mettle.

The release of The English Riviera sees their debut as a quartet; waving goodbye to original keyboardist/bassist Gabriel Stebbing for his own project (which Mount subsequently produced), to welcome Anna Prior (formerly of Lightspeed Champion, on the drums) and Gbenga Adelekan (bass), in addition to Oscar Cash (guitar) and Mount on keyboard/vocals. Besides finding himself writing for four specific instruments, the unleashing of The English Riviera
also marks the first time that Mount has actually ever recorded in a
studio. Whilst many bands might flounder or lose their way in this
situation, Mount has proven the (technically) impossible equation of
1+1=3: where the result of the equation equals more than the sum of it's
parts.

Undeniably Mount's best work to date, The English Riviera showcases a
more musically confident, complex and developed Metronomy. And as often
happens when someone is evolving, Mount found Devon's English coast
calling to him. So, the album turned out to be an homage to his hometown
in a nostalgic re-imagining of the place he grew up.

Who even knew that such a place as the English Riviera existed?
Truthfully; the English Riviera of Mount's doesn't. Not really. But with
this album, the dreamy ideal of one is so well described that it really
feels like somewhere you have to go visit: vibrant and wonderfully odd,
as seen through those skewed and unmistakably Metronomy coloured
glasses.

Tom Hudson is a truly awesome human bean. And it is he who is our latest artist of the month! In an incredibly generous move, Tommy managed to escape from being locked in a dungeon for the last week or so (literally - you just can't underestimate the T-Hud) writing songs with his band to whip us up our latest website skin.

Thomas Hudson grew up in the West Midlands of the UK and later in life floated onto Leeds to study Visual Communication as well as the art of noisemaking within the burgeoning scene that was emerging from there. I used to spend a lot of time in Leeds and that's where I came across him; whilst he spent time thrashing it out for bands like Mother Vulpine (RIP - formerly fronted by Matt Dinosaur Pile-Up) and PWA.

We got to know each other cramming into gigs, freestyling to blues riffs, drinking endless cups of tea and rolling up endless rollies. Mr Mad Skillz has also been a long time member of amazing Leeds based art collective, Nous Vous. In fact, he has a new blog where he posts various inspirations/drawings/movie clips of peoples heads exploding or melting. It's called Snake Arrows and is inspired by a scene in Conan The Barbarian where the bad dude Thulsa Doom uses a perfectly straight snake as an arrow, firing it from a bow whilst on horseback.

Otherwise though, Tommy spends his days as the guitarist/shouter in Pulled Apart By Horses (remember this interview I did with him?) and currently creates artwork/posters/videos and animations in his own sweet time. When he's not on tour or writing music in dungeons that is. We asked him to give us a quick rundown of what he created, and well,I'll just let him explain it, shall I!

HIYA // Tommy Hudson!

HIYA // Pulled Apart By Horses (it's the 'Yeah Buddy' cover by Tom)

// SITE DESIGN CONCEPT \\

I tried to keep the design for the IM//UR site as spontaneous as I could. Sometimes my shittest work is the stuff I've thought about too much. A big thing I've been inspired by recently is the whole 'black metal'scene. Whether it's visually, musically, or just a
fascination with the 'black metal' attitude and lifestyle; it's kind of sucked me in. I'm not saying I stand by it though, so don't worry about me burning down a church or killing my band mates just yet....

It's probably from watching the awesome documentary 'Until The Light Takes
Us' .......or listening to too much Mayhem. So this is my own kinda
of take on the whole thing. It took me a while to get the text right as
it was too un-readable and almost unusable for a functioning website.
Haha!

How and when did you know you were going to be an artist?

I don't really know to be honest with you. I've been obsessed with music and drawings for as far as my memory takes me back. I was always that kid at primary school that would take 2 hours to draw the picture for a story and then spend 10 minutes trying to write a bunch of nonsense that would pass for a plot to go alongside it.

Drawing has kind of been there since day one and has
always been something I would do to take my mind off everything else
around me. I'd whip out my pens and pencils and just fall into a weird
scribbly mantra! As well as being obsessed with drawing and anything
visually exciting - there's been music. Even when I was 2 years old, I'd constantly try and mimic music I'd hear, especially advert jingles that
were on TV. This was before I could even string sentences together
properly.

I've also got my family to thank for encouraging me to follow
the things I enjoyed rather than beating me with a pole for drawing
beasts all over my homework.

What have been your biggest influences?

As
with most people, the first art you'll generally come into contact with is the popular stuff.
I was hooked on Hockney, Picasso, Basquiat and other outsider art. But
on top of that I was always inspired by the unexplained; mysteries of
the world and scientific findings. Horror films, sci-fi films. If we're
talking music I'd have to say Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix - but you could probably guess that right?

Now there's far too much amazing
talent and things that influence me and my work that I fear that if I
cram any more into my head, the older things would just tumble out the other
side!!

Who would you love to collaborate with?

I would love to collaborate
with Ben Jones or any of the other guys involved with the collective
Paper Rad! Although I would have a problem trying to out-do their
weirdness. It would definitely be a challenge! Another would be the
illustrator Ian Stevenson. I'd also love to write a score for a John
Carpenter horror film!

Favourite medium?

If we're talking spiritual mediums then it's probably Derek Arkorah.

If
not it would have to be the basics, a crappy piece of paper / notebook
with a couple of sharpies and a pencil. If you keep things basic then
you can take it anywhere with you!! Although I'd be absolutely useless
in life without my Mac!

I stumbled into The Strongrooms to catch up with Kip Bergman and Peggy Wang from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
For being in a band that has this year been hyped to the high heavens
and critically praised, they have an incredibly easy personal presence.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, consisting of Kurt Feldman and Alex Naidus as well as Peggy and Kip came together for Peggy's birthday
party at a big warehouse in Brooklyn a couple of years ago. Having
roped in a few other bands that they all collectively admired,
including The Manhattan Love Suicides and Titus Andronicus,
the band formed a month prior to it with the goal of performing five
songs that they'd written. It made sense that since they were throwing
the party, they could play at it too; enjoying the low pressure that
the party setting would give. Since they didn't seem to ruin anybody's
good time too much, it was deemed a success.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart emerged from the very bosom of the Brooklyn music scene, and
what I'm coming to look at as a communal, organic kind of garden in
attitude. A plot of land that all the little plants share, growing
amongst each other, not too worried about who the biggest or prettiest
flower is, cause everyone is a bit of an odd vegetable anyway.

The duo
had only answered a couple of other interviews that day, so they
weren't too resigned to answer my questions. In fact they were lovely.
Kip and Peggy gave all the right answers; and in another case I might
have been more skeptical of their apparent ingenuousness, but because
they just seemed so, well, normal and sincere with their outlook on their circumstance that I actually believedthem.

And today we debut our latest background - this month, the mad skillz behind it is the supremely lovely German born, Dutch raised and London roaming Sina Becker.

How and when did you know you were going to be an illustrator?

I was about 3 or 4 when my older brother showed me how to draw hands (a circle with sticks pointing out in all directions). That was a life changing moment. Everything fell into place after that.

What have been are your biggest influences?

The Horniman Museum in South London - the way they've catalogued dead animals in spider diagrams on those pastel backgrounds is bizarre...yet surprisingly stylish. All I can say is that taxidermy has never looked sexier. Also old reference books on anything from flower arranging to learning how to wind surf, amazing. Then old cartoons from my childhood such as the Jetsons, Ghostbusters - and actually films from the 80's and 90's. They're just good old clean fun.

Who would love to work for or collaborate with?

My creative heaven would consist of Carson McCullers, Miranda July, Wes Anderson, Frida Kahlo and Marian Leatherby (who is a character in Leonora Carrington's 'The Hearing Trumpet'. I know she is not real but some of the things that little old lady gets up to are just fantastic). I'm not sure if they would all get along, but it's my fantasy.

What did you dream about last night?

It was a bit of an epic dream. The thing I remember most vividly is moving into my new house which just happened to be the home of the man who had invented the umbrella. Even in my dream I found that incredibly cool.

Favourite medium?

I like the scissor and blue tack. You see, it's not as permanent as glue - but still keeps everything together. It's perfect for the indecisive collager.

The Golden Filter until now, have been made
by the media a somewhat overly mysterious and elusive entity. Having recently
dropped 'Favourite Things' on Kitsuné's latest compilation, this seemingly
evasive pair first took the scene by storm when they released a faceless,
somewhat prophetic and self-explanatory track 'Solid Gold' into the
blogosphere. It had everybody talking about them, wondering, "Who the hell
are The Golden Filter?"

The New York City based Penelope and
Stephen (plus Lisa their drummer, who completes their live show) are the duo behind all the fuss and the brilliant bit of personal
obscurity that inadvertently had the bloggerati abuzz. Whilst their tracks were slinking and gliding their way down
headphones and out of speakers everywhere, the duo preferred to keep their heads down
and let the stalking basslines and undulating electronica of their sexily hazy
neo-disco do the talking.

But to part the curtains of myth and golden halos of hair and camera
effects that they have hidden behind in photographs, I hung out with
Stephen and Penelope for an afternoon,
wandering the colourful streets of Williamsburg to talk it out. They
were
neither masked nor aloof despite previously having used a vocoder in
prior interviews and habitually hidden their faces in press pictures.

In fact, I found Penelope and Stephen to be
thoroughly down to earth, pragmatic and frank; aware of themselves and the
world that they're operating in, knowing exactly what they want and how to get
it without losing themselves in the circus of The Biz that is the music industry.